St. Clair Health Pelvic Floor Therapy: More Than Kegels

By Andrew Wilson

Oftentimes, people who have bowel or bladder incontinence or pelvic pain during sex or other physical activities feel like they need to suffer in silence. Some may feel too embarrassed to discuss these types of problems with a doctor, let alone their friends.

The message that Jessica Hammond, OTR/L, an occupational and pelvic floor therapist with St. Clair Health PT/OT wants to tell everyone who suffers from pelvic pain and incontinence is that help is available.

“The encouragement that I usually give is that these things are common, but not necessarily something that you talk about with your friends,” she said. “You are not alone in this and we’re here to support you.”

Hammond says the common perception is that only women benefit from pelvic floor therapy, but that is not necessarily so. For example, people who have had abdominal surgery or men who have incontinence or make frequent trips to the bathroom associated with prostate disease may benefit from pelvic floor therapy, too.

“Pelvic floor therapy can be beneficial for anyone who is experiencing pelvic pain,” she said. “Women endure things in their lives like pregnancy and childbirth that impact the pelvic floor muscles directly. If we see eight to ten patients in a day, a quarter may be pregnant or post-partum women, while the others may be patients with other conditions.”

Patients do not need to have a certain level of fitness to benefit from pelvic floor therapy either. St. Clair Health PT/OT tailors the therapy to meet each patient where they are.

“We see a variety of people of all fitness levels,” Hammond said. “We see people in their teens all the way to 90 years old. If a patient has limited mobility or has a history of frequent falls, we’re going to tailor the exercises to their condition.”

She said a typical pelvic floor therapy session, which lasts about 60 minutes, begins with education, particularly true for the first visit where the learning may go both ways. The therapist wants to learn what the patient is experiencing and what they may have tried to alleviate their condition. Once that type of evaluation is concluded, the therapist will begin to teach the patient about what pelvic floor therapy is and how it may alleviate their problems.

“We teach people how to coordinate their pelvic muscles,” Hammond said. “We teach them how to coordinate the muscles when you need them and also to relax them when you don’t need them.”

The therapy sessions can vary depending on patient needs. Some patients have problems with range of motion in a muscle, while others have issues with muscle weakness. Hammond says that Kegel exercises are often what people expect to perform during therapy, but they are rarely the first exercise patients are taught.

“We focus on stretching, mindfulness and relaxation techniques during therapy,” she said. “We give them a home program to follow, too, so they can integrate moving and breathing patterns and strategies into their daily life.”

For many patients suffering from urinary incontinence, they may try to limit their water or fluid intake, but that can lead to dehydration, which leads to other problems.

“The more dehydrated you become the more concentrated urine becomes in the bladder, which causes the bladder to become more irritated and leads to further pain,” Hammond said. “In pelvic floor therapy, we can usually eliminate incontinence or at least greatly reduce it.” 

Because the issues patients are having can be deeply personal and even embarrassing, St. Clair Health PT/OT takes steps to safeguard patient privacy during therapy sessions. 

“We don’t do anything that is forced,” Hammond said. “If a patient isn’t comfortable talking about specifics, we don’t talk about that.”

One thing that helps is that patients do not go through pelvic floor therapy in the middle of a busy gym. Sessions are one-on-one, once a week, for an average of about four-to six weeks. Duration depends on the patient.

“We meet pelvic health patients in private rooms inside the gym that has closed doors and curtains,” Hammond said. “We will sometimes go out into the gym if we need to use a particular piece of exercise equipment, but most of the education and discussion takes place in the private rooms.”

In the final analysis, the goal of pelvic floor therapy is a simple one.

“We want to improve our patients’ quality of life,” Hammond said.

St. Clair Health PT/OT’s highly experienced staff provides treatment for a wide variety of diagnoses that may be limiting activities of daily function, St. Clair’s Rehabilitation Services offers a full spectrum of physical, occupational, and speech therapy services, and strives to provide comprehensive care in a compassionate environment. 

St. Clair Health provides Outpatient Rehabilitation Services at the following locations:

Dunlap Family Outpatient Center
1000 Bower Hill Rd., Suite 5300
Pittsburgh, PA 15243
(412) 942-4060

Village Square Outpatient Center
2000 Oxford Drive
Bethel Park, PA 15102
(412) 942-7122